Thursday 26 April 2018

Monopose Orcs!



Greetings vaqueros! Today I'm going to show you the start of a unit of orcs made almost entirely from plastic models sourced from various board games from the 90's.

 This is an idea I've had on the backburner for a while, born of the guilt associated with owning piles of old miniature based board games chock full of unpainted pieces, but when theottovonbismark presented his inspiring monopose dark elf unit recently, I knew that now was the time to make it happen. The concept was basically to unite all the orcs of old plastic-kind under the one banner, with a limited palette and matched accessories to bring them together as a unit.

'Ere we gooo!

 I chose these shields as a means of lowering the goofiness level, as they are rusty and crusty and mean looking. I discovered after the fact that they are from the current plastic beastman range, which changes nothing really, but is worth knowing if I need more!


First up we have the Battle Masters orc boyz; both have had new shields stuck over their integrated frisbees, and one has been subtly converted to hold a big ol' banner. The Battle Masters set, which was a sort of Warhammer Lite developed by Milton Bradley and Games Workshop, came with 100 Citadel miniatures, including 10 of these large and nicely detailed orcs to make two units of 5. Since I've painted 10 orcs so far, I can tick them off a potential future Battle Masters project, which is nice :)


Next up, the HeroQuest orcs - evergreen favourites, they need little introduction, but you should check out the HeroQuest Hero Quest over at Scale Creep if you haven't already. Their 'shield' arm is at a really awkward pose for the purpose, and if I were to do this again I'd probably repose it, but for the purposes of this unit of rabble, they work just fine as is. At some point I'll paint the cleaver orc as well so all 4 variants will be represented. 10 orcs is more than enough to play the basic HeroQuest set missions, so that's another tick for the project box! 


These good looking fellows are from Canada's answer to HeroQuest - Dark World. Waddington's didn't have help from Games Workshop's well established miniatures design team, and they made some sad choices with the heroes that make them almost unpaintable without seriously risking your sanity (the dwarf proportions are some real Cthulu level madness) but a few of the monsters are real class acts, and I'm hoping to use them in a similar project in the future. The orcs are far and away my favourites from that box; through clever use of the moulding process they made a very dynamic striding pose which you'll seldom find in any miniatures of the era, especially of the monopose plastic kind.  Apart from the shields, I swapped their very blobby scimitars for some spare HQ orc weapons, which gives them a little more connection as a unit. 10 orcs is more than enough to play through the single quest of Dark World, so there's another tick right there.


Finally we have this sordid pair - a Warhammer Fantasy Regiments orc, and the orc warrior from Warhammer Quest that was also used as the regiment filler orc in 4th edition Warhammer. I only had one useable WHQ orc and his sword is the most fancy, so he became the boss. The WFR orc is the only model so far that wasn't a board game piece, but I included him for completeness, and because he looked really sad at the thought of being left out. Just look at him... so forlorn. How could I say no?

"I just... I don't want to orc today. I don't feel good."
The WHR orcs have a neck that protrudes quite far out from the body so I trimmed it right back and pinned the head to the body directly so he matched the other guys more closely.  Unfortunately I pinned it at a funny angle that makes him look really glum, but it ain't all roses being an orc.

Just ask this guy - oh wait, you can't, he's been de-rezzed...

So there you have it - 10 orc warriors that can fill a number of different roles in several games. With two additional orcs I'll have enough for a Dragon Rampant unit, and another 10 will make a fine Warhammer Fantasy unit, if I were so inclined. Short term I plan to add a Psychostyrene orc and this weird unidentified orc I was given when I was 12 years old - if anyone has any idea where he is from please let me know in the comments!
(UPDATE: This orc is actually from the boardgame Dragonfire - the info was provided on the Facebook!)

"Come at me braaa!"

And what's next? Well, since we're all about the goofy plastic at the moment, behold, the New Dwarf Lords of Legend! Grumbling their way to a mead hall near you! Eventually!


Adios for now!

32 comments:

  1. That's a magnificent piece of modelling and blogging here !
    Using plastic monopose monstrosities to make a unit that is neither monopose nor monstrous ! That's borderline genius !!!!

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    1. Please mec, borderline genius... I mean don't you think that's a bit... UNDERSTATED?? I AM YOUR GOOOOOOOOD!

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    2. no mec, it's borderline FROM THE GENIOUS SIDE.

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  2. Stylishly done my lovely. I never thought Battlemasters orcs could be polished to such a high sheen. I couldn't fight that unit, the tears of nostalgia would prevent me from finding the dice.

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    1. And so my grand strategy is revealed before the first boots hit the table... it's back to the drawing board ladz! *muttered oaths and groans are heard*

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  3. A kindred spirit. Great work.

    http://mattgeeminis.blogspot.co.uk/p/going-through-monopose.html?m=1

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    1. Your project is the comfortable kind of ambitious that I heartily approve of - keep it up :D

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  4. I converted, aka butchered, up my HQ orcs a while back too. The arms over their heads and the weird position of the shield arm made me do it. I just cut them off at the shoulder and swiveled them into a better angle though, nothing too fancy.

    I wasn't aware of the existence of a couple of them, but I do like the look of the Dark World one's. I like the WFR orc, even though he's a bit dumb looking, but that might be nostalgia talking too, as that was the first box of minis I bought when I was a kid.

    You've done a great job of converting them James. You've painting has really made them look like they belong together. I wasn't aware of the existence of a couple of them, but I do like the look of the Dark World one's.

    Sorry for hijacking your comment section with my own reminiscing James.

    Good to see you posting again, albeit without the hoped for "landmine links" :P

    Well done mate :)

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    1. I'm not really nostalgic for the WFR stuff because it was already off the shelves when I came into the hobby - and the regiment filler types from 4th ed always seemed like cheating ;) but the HeroQuest guys are 100% my jam - I painted my set twice over by the time I was 12yrs old- I redid them when I was given the Citadel starter paint set ;)

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  5. They look great! If you need more of the beastmen Shields, they were recut a while back and now come molded into the arms 😥

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    1. I don't think I'll run out, but there are a few on eBay just in case...

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  6. Good effort James. You must try and do more of this kind of work. The resolution of your pictures needs some attention. I'll have a word with your Father when i see him at Parents evening. Make sure your next piece of homework gets to me quicker. C+

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    1. My beloved post production software betrayed me on this occasion. I might redo the pics at some point. Please don't tell dad I still paint my war dollies, he thinks I'm a stamp collecting chartered accountant.

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  7. You made these drastic plastic figures look ace!

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    1. Thanks Sean, the task seemed pretty drastikk but in the end it was just a little hektikk.

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  8. Those are rather nice indeed Crooky :)

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  9. This is the greatest blogpost of the month.

    What about the standard Talisman Dwarf for your Dwarf Lords of Legends too?

    Hasbro did a D&D boardgme with plastic Goblins and Trolls, you could try them out too: https://boardgamegeek.com/image/285232/dungeons-dragons-fantasy-adventure-board-game

    Your post's inspired me to soldier on with my Dark World lizard wizard: Korak. He's a frustrating model, as despite having a symmetrical flat-on face his eyes are at very different heights. I agree with your sentiment on the proportions of the heroes being sanity-taxing.

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    1. It's only the greatest until your next post Curis. Or possibly if someone blogs a cat riding a penny-farthing or something... that'd be pretty sweet...

      As for the dwarves, I'm building a unit of regular troops out of Drastik Plastik, 4th ed unit filler and hopefully a Talisman dwarf for the champ if I can find one at a reasonable price :) the New Lords of Legend are partly a joke, but may also happen at some point ;)

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  10. I always approve of monopose plastic models--great work. I think this is also a great benefit of plastic--cheap unit builders, rather than multi-piece sprues. I really hate building multi-part modern plastic models. Anyway, great work on these!

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    1. I love the new plastic sets for the kitbashing potential but hate how easy it is to put a lot of effort into assembling a multipart unit only to have it look exactly the same as everyone else's unit anyway. At least this cuts out the middleman ;)

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    2. Agree both that the real benefit of the plastics is just lots of bits to use for conversions, and also agree I am constantly surprised just how homogenous all the armies are despite the (mostly) unfulfilled potential for individuality. Also we have to admit, a professional miniature designer is better at composing and posing a miniature than an amateur (get a few miniatures from ebay lots to see just how bad some people are at assembling and posing miniatures--it should be left to the professionals! lol).

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    3. You're going to give them ideas with talk like that ;)

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  11. I refuse to believe you achieved these results using the original minis! Simply not possible!! :D

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    1. I think we are conditioned by years of seeing these miniatures painted by 11yr olds taking their first stab at the hobby - we seldom see people coming back to them with advanced skills and techniques. If you think these look good you should check out the work of Old Scratch, his HeroQuest minis look like renaissance paintings by the old masters... inspiring stuff!

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  12. Glory be! This is also a project I am working on at the moment for my return to Warhammer Quest.

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    1. The outcome is worth twice the effort put in, which is a win in anyone's book. I'll have to check out your work :)

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  13. Fine work and more proof if needed of the usefulness of the monopose. I am coming to the conclusion there is a need for a monopose Golden Gobbo competition on the oldhammer forum!

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    1. That sounds like a great idea! Everyone has at least one monopose plastic model - those Bretonnian archers seem to multiply when they aren't watched carefully...

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